It was there for him. Beasley, coming off the bench for the Timberwolves on Monday, already had shown that this was going to be one of those nights scorers have. Houston coach Kevin McHale had tried one thing after another, finally asking Courtney Lee to try to slow Beasley down.

"Good defender," Beasley said. "But — and no offense to Courtney Lee — he's almost a foot shorter than me. It's just common sense."

So Beasley attacked. He jumped, spun, leaned. And when the dust cleared at Toyota Center, Beasley had 34 points and led the Wolves to a 120-108 victory over a Rockets team that had won nine of its previous 10 games, including a 15-point victory in Minnesota a week earlier.